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Afghanistan election results ‘delayed’
 [DAWN] Preliminary results expected on Saturday after last month’s presidential election in Afghanistan have been delayed, the election commission said.Officials had previously indicated that results would likely be pushed back. But in her announcement, Awa Alam Nuristani, who heads the Independent Election Commission (IEC), did not say how long the vote count will be delayed. “Unfortunately, because of some technical issues and for transparency, we could not announce the results based on the election timetable,” she said, apologising at a press conference. The IEC previously said that less than one-third, or about 2.7 million of Afghanistan’s 9.6 million registered voters, cast ballots in the Sept 28 first-round poll. With fears of fraud and threats of deadly Taliban violence, it was a record low turnout. The contest featured 18 candidates but President Ashraf Ghani, seeking a second five-year term, and Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, are the favourites. Just two days after the election and before all votes had even arrived in Kabul for counting, Abdullah claimed victory in a move that international and local observers panned as premature. Related: Presidential election in Afghanistan: 2014-04-16 Afghan election and beyond Presidential election in Afghanistan: 2014-04-05 Taliban offer $5 for Kabul voter card Presidential election in Afghanistan: 2010-04-07 White House would consider canceling Karzai visit Related: Ashraf Ghani: 2019-10-13 Abdullah’s running mate describes Afghan presidential poll as fraudulent Ashraf Ghani: 2019-10-01 Afghanistan's Abdullah claims wins first round of election Ashraf Ghani: 2019-09-26 A Journalist and a child among 10 civilians killed, wounded in Kandahar explosion Related: Abdullah Abdullah: 2019-10-13 Abdullah’s running mate describes Afghan presidential poll as fraudulent Abdullah Abdullah: 2019-10-01 Afghanistan's Abdullah claims wins first round of election Abdullah Abdullah: 2019-09-14 Afghan election back in spotlight after Trump's Taliban tweets Posted by: Fred 2019-10-21 |
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